ONO

EXTERIOR: charcoal gray wool LINING: feint pink satin

THE PROCESS:

INSPIRATION:

A bit late, but I recently watched Memoirs of A Geisha. As much as I love Ziyi Zhang, the costumes -by far- was my favorite part of the film. The color combinations, the patterns, the texture, the fluidness of the fabric were amazing. After watching the film, I decided to do some research on the "anatomy" of kimonos, and kimonos in general. Luckily, I found "Textiles on the Homefront 1931-1945:Wearing Propaganda" at a bookstore. It has hundreds of photos of kimonos from WWII. The Kimonos were presented as a flat, so it was extremely easy (and convenient) to see the shape and structure of the kimono as well as the patterned textiles.

Since I don't have a kimono of my own (yet..), I decided to make one for myself but in coat form. My inspiration, obviously, stems from fluid-like kimonos and their strong, geometric lines. Although the coat does not fully resemble a kimono, I wanted to experiment with the lining to include similar strong lines as do kimonos. Making the patterns, for me, is usually the best or worst -never in between- part of sewing, and this time around it was definitely one of the worser times. I usually listen to music when I sew (one song...on repeat...over and over and over again), and always pick music with either no words or in another language so that I can zone in on the sewing rather than the meaning of the song (and still set the right vibe in my sweatshop/livingroom). This time around, it was 2ne1's I Love You. I have to admit, I Love You has become quite a guilty pleasure.

I usually have no ounce of patience, and my attention span is that of a child so I'm very surprised -pleasantly surprised- that I was actually able to finish this coat. So here it is. I hope you enjoy (because I wont be enjoying it until october when it's not super hot -___-).